Quincy High demolition needs OK from Army Corps

Demolition of the 90-year-old Quincy High School building is slated to happen before the end of summer, but the wrecking ball won’t swing until the city gets final approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

By Chris Burrell

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Chris Burrell

Posted Jul. 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 31, 2013 at 7:32 PM

By Chris Burrell

Posted Jul. 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 31, 2013 at 7:32 PM

QUINCY

» Social News

Demolition of the 90-year-old Quincy High School building is slated to happen before the end of summer, but the wrecking ball won’t swing until the city gets final approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Last week, city officials said the demolition was imminent, but the Corps of Engineers said Tuesday that it is still waiting on a formal request from the city to alter a 2006 agreement with the federal agency.

“We’re still waiting on them,” said Tim Dugan, an Army Corps spokesman in Concord. “They have to request from the Corps to modify the agreement before doing anything to the building.”

But City Solicitor James Timmins said Quincy has made a request to the Army Corps and is waiting to finalize the agreement.

“I am not sure when, but the demolition will be done in August,” Timmins said. “We’re dealing with Mass. Historic (Commission) and the Army Corps. They have bigger agendas, and it’s difficult to get timely ebbs and flow from them.”

In June, some Quincy city councilors questioned Mayor Thomas Koch’s plan to borrow $2.5 million to raze the former high school and replace it with a park.

Taking down the old high school, which is on a 3.85-acre site next to the new high school, will cost about $2.4 million, according to estimates provided by James Fatseas, the mayor’s executive secretary.

Of that, about $1 million was spent last year to survey and remove hazardous materials, like asbestos, from the old building. That work was funded using contingency funds built into the budget for the new high school project, officials said.

After the old school is demolished, the mayor has proposed putting in a park and adding 35 to 50 parking spots for the new school.

That phase of the project, scheduled to start in October, would cost about $1.65 million, officials said.

That leaves the city with a price tag of about $3.1 million to finish the project. Fatseas and Timmins said $2.5 million would come from borrowing, and the rest would come from the new-school contingency fund.

Timmins said in June that renovating the old school, built in 1922, to bring it up to code would have cost up to $53 million.